Harry Potter and the Elusive Vultures
by JHarroway
Summary: Dangerous 8 ft tall Vultures are stolen from a lab in AZ. They ironically turn up in Hogwarts and begin attacking and capturing teachers and all who stand in their way. Read as Harry & friends solve the mystery of the visitors of the sky
1. Default Chapter

Prologue  
  
Thousands of miles away from Hogwarts, Privet Drive, and England, sits a Wizard Laboratory in Arizona. After years and years of research, the completion of a special formula is now within sight.  
  
The day started out like any other, as the wizard who owned the top secret laboratory, Michael Wells, woke up and got ready for work. Commuting was no problem, he just simply convinced his wife and daughter to move into the building. Previously living in New York, the doctor wasn't used to the hot climate, so he chose to have his family reside on the fourth floor, where the air conditioning blew strongest through the ventilators. He picked the largest office for his family to live in, which the equivalent of the size of a normal apartment . At 5:00 A.M, Dr. Wells left his 'apartment' at the end of the hall, and headed into the elevator to the basement, where he was opening up the lab for another day's work. Exiting the elevator, he soon reached the two metal doors leading to the lab, which the doctor unlocked with reciting the master password that only he knew.  
  
"Mors Avitus!" Immediately, the doors opened with a loud pressurized hissing noise, and the doctor walked in. He greeted all of his eight foot tall vultures behind thick Plexiglas, which was the length of the back wall. On the end of the left side of the glass, were three concrete stairs and a door, which led to a small room where food could be distributed to these giants.  
  
Dr. Wells said to them, "Very soon my formula will be complete, and you will no longer be a danger to Wizards and Muggles. I have slaved over years of research and experiments to find a successful formula, so that you will stop terrorizing and eating the people of Arizona so that our magical world will not be discovered. Do you know how huge of a threat you all are? Muggles aren't used to seeing eight foot birds fly into their cities. Soon, I will stop you."  
  
And with that, Dr. Wells turned away, and made ready the lab for his scientist employees, when they came to work in an hour.  
  
By 6:10 that morning, the lab was buzzing as usual, with all the scientists busily working at their stations on their individual experiments.  
  
They lived in the building too, just only on the third floor. To get in the lab every morning, they would recite the password "Reperire Veritas" However, this password only worked after the master password had been said by Dr. Wells, for security reasons. At his station, Dr. Wells worked intensely over his bubbling beaker that held a strange yellow substance. He measured and mixed all sorts of different colored powders into the beaker, causing the contents to foam at the top worse than before.  
  
"Almost there.just one more pinch of." "BOOM!" A huge explosion sounded throughout the building as smoke emitted itself from the glowing beaker. In response, all of the scientists scrambled towards the doctor and his experiment.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, today might be the very day that I am in the shadow of victory. In just a few moments, I will know. You now see before you, a bright yellow substance which is currently glowing, but is progressively dying off. When the glow recedes, hopefully the substance will turn neon green, and once again reclaim the glow. When, and if this does happen, I have reached my objective. Again, I am very sorry that I wasn't able to include you all in my research. The Ministry specifically put me in charge of this confidential mission, and I thank you all for being so understanding. I know that this is the first time that I had to exclude you from my work." he apologized.  
  
"No need to apologize sir. You know that we are all behind you, every step of the way, and wish for your utmost success on this assignment," a scientist said supportively. All the others agreed and clapped.  
  
"Thank you all so much. It means a lot to me, and now, let's see if hopefully, my efforts are successful."  
  
Everyone watched in silence and waited for the liquid to change colors. Clearly, the moment was tense, as the scientists leaned in and stared nervously at the beaker. Some of them, in a sweat, started biting their nails.  
  
It was hardly noticeable at first, but starting from the bottom of the beaker, the substance slowly turned an unmistakable shade of luminous green. In response, cheers immediately erupted from everyone in the room. They all shook Dr. Well's hand and congratulated him.  
  
"Thank you everyone, I appreciate your support! It is a glorious day indeed. No more will we need to fear the exposure of our world to the eyes of unknowing Muggles. It was nine years ago, that I was first handed the assignment of creating a formula that will control the minds of these eight foot Arizonian Poison Beak Vultures, to stop them from migrating from the desert to Muggle cities and eating the people. Today, my hard work has paid off, and soon we will return the vultures back to the desert after applying the formula to them. This calls for a celebration, my comrades! Everyone may take the day off, but please do come back around 5:00 this evening and we will have a feast. So go now, and have a wonderful day off!" he stated joyously, as the scientists cheered and proceeded to exit the lab.  
  
Meanwhile, back in the doctor's apartment, the blast from earlier that shook the building awoke his daughter with a start, causing her to shoot up from the bed and enter her mother's room. "Mom, are you awake? Did you hear that noise before?" she asked startled. "You heard it too? I thought I was just dreaming. It sounded like some sort small explosion. Melissa, do you think it's your fathers doing?" her mom replied, while sitting up in her bed. "Humph.probably, who else would make such a racket? I guess I'll go downstairs and find out." Melissa sighed, as she headed to leave. Her mom called after her, "Don't you think you might want to change first? You're still in your pajamas, and considering there are all those scientists down there." "Oh, yeah. sorry mom, I'm still a bit groggy. It's only 6:15 after all," she chuckled.  
  
Melissa went back into her room and quickly threw on jean shorts, a shirt, combed her hair, and exited the apartment in a hurry, to satisfy her curiosity and anger of what it was that woke her so early.  
  
As she walked down the hallway, she paused at another apartment, where a man resided that her father took in off the streets two years ago. She wondered if he had heard the loud bang, and thought about knocking on his door to ask. However, Melissa changed her mind. She was a bit wary of the man, and had a good reason. She hardly ever saw him, because he would always stay in his apartment and never come out. When he did, he never talked to her. In fact, in the two years that he was with them, Melissa had never even received a hello, and thought this quite odd. She asked her father about the man's strange behavior, and Melissa's father told her that he recently recovering from extremely tough times in his life, so he preferred the solitude.  
  
Curiosity getting the better of her, Melissa decided to peer in through the peep hole in the middle of the door to see if she could see him. However, before she got the chance, the door swung open, and Melissa found herself staring face to face with the man whose name she couldn't remember.  
  
"May I help you?" he asked rather coldly.  
  
"Uh.yeah, actually, I was just wondering if you heard that loud noise before," Melissa replied nervously.  
  
"No, I didn't. I had my Wizvision (the wizard form of television) up very loud because I couldn't hear my show over the sizzling of the frying pan, while it cooked my breakfast. Why, was it anything to be alarmed about?"  
  
"Oh no, not at all, it was just a bit startling, that's all."  
  
"Okay then, now if you'll excuse me, I think my breakfast is ready. Good day."  
  
"Good bye," Melissa replied as he closed the door.  
  
A bit offended by his undemonstrative demeanor, she walked to the elevator, and stepped in, pressing the button to get down to the lab. She stared at the little doohickey in the elevator and watched the floors go lower. She didn't quite know the name of the thing now that she thought of it. What did that matter? She needed something to take her mind off of being in an elevator. She didn't really like tight spaces.  
  
"It beats taking the stairs. At least I don't have to be surrounded by windows that show me how high up I am from outside," she said to herself. She didn't like heights either. She didn't know why. She also found it quite strange that when she was high in the air in the family's flying car, she didn't feel queasy or anything.  
  
"Ding", the elevator had reached the lab floor. "Thank God," she thought, as the doors opened and she stepped out.  
Melissa squinted immediately. The shiny white walls and floors mixed with the lights on the ceiling were a bit bright for someone who just woke up. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it resembled a hospital wing of some sort. Melissa kept walking and made two lefts, then a right, half tripping over a janitors broom, and finally came upon the main door to the lab, where she figured her father would be. She recited the third password to get into the laboratory, which was strictly just used by the family.  
  
"Formosus solaris."  
  
Melissa walked inside, and to her surprise there was no one in the lab, not even her father. She looked around, and called out to her dad, but received no answer. Shrugging, her attention was directed elsewhere by a loud bubbling sound that was coming from one of the tables. Melissa decided to go over and investigate, and saw a glowing green liquid in a beaker. Curious, she started to look at it.  
"SCREECH!"  
  
She jumped back, startled, and met the gaze of a rather vicious looking vulture from behind the glass.  
"Ugh, I hate it when they do that, stupid birds. Hmm, is that vulture number 93751 again? Gosh, I hardly ever come down here, and when I do, that particular bird always seems angry and tries to break through the glass to get me. I guess for some reason it doesn't like me very much," she said to herself while meeting the vultures gaze defiantly.  
  
"Melissa, What are you doing down here? I was just about to come and get you and your mother."  
  
Taken off guard, she swung around, only to see that the voice belonged to her father.  
"Oh, hello Dad, well I'm down here now, because of that small explosion from before, and now I see that there's no one here. Is it something to be worried about?"  
  
"Ha! No, not at all! That's what I wanted to show you. Look here," he gestured, to the same glowing formula she was observing before.  
  
Then, it finally clicked in Melissa's head, "Dad, is this the. "  
"It's exactly that," he answered her.  
  
"The formula for the vultures?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Immediately a huge smile spread across Melissa's face, and she hugged him.  
"Dad, this is wonderful! The Ministry is going to be so relieved that you've solved the problem! You might even become head Wizarding Scientist, now that Dr. Henderson is retiring," she exclaimed ecstatically.  
  
"I hope so. I've been a candidate for the job for years now, and now that the doctor is retiring, he just might give me that position as head scientist. Still though, I'm not the only candidate. It's that money hungry, Dr. Jameison as well. I was a bit worried that he would get the job over me, because he's done some excellent work in the past, but now the recent event of me discovering a very important formula will more than likely nail me the job," he declared happily, as he proceeded to put the formula in a vault and lock it.  
  
Well, let's go upstairs and tell your mother. There's going to be a feast later, and I want you both to be a part of it. I'm sure she'll be overjoyed at my newly found accomplishment.  
  
"Okay, let's go," Melissa said as they walked to the door, "Formosus solaris."  
"You know, you should have just let me say the master password so that I could lock the door."  
"Oh yeah, sorry Dad."  
  
"Mors Avitus," her dad recited, locking the lab.  
Just then, out of no where, a very powerful thought was pushed into her head.  
  
"Dad, what if someone steals the formula?"  
  
"Steals it? Why my dear, what would make you think such a thing?"  
"I'm sorry, dad, I honestly don't know where that came from. I guess I'm just really excited, and I don't want anything to be ruined for you."  
  
"Chuckling, her father said, "I understand your concern, but trust me everything is secure. First off, you can't get into the lab when no one is there, without reciting the master password like I just did. Plus, the formula, as you saw, is stored in the vault, which there is a separate password to. Not a single soul knows that password except for you and me. You got lucky today, missy. If you weren't down here when I said the password you wouldn't have known it," he teased.  
  
"CRASH!"  
  
Melissa and her dad looked at each other nervously, and ran to see what caused the sound. They turned down one of the many corners on the laboratory floor and noticed a large plant in a china vase on a table had fallen over, along with the life size mirror next to it, causing it to shatter.  
  
"How the heck did all of this fall?" he questioned.  
  
"Dad, do you think someone was listening?"  
  
"No, how could they? We were the only ones down here," Melissa's father said dismissing it.  
  
Just then, a head poked out from the pile of soil.  
  
"Oh good gracious, it's only Max. He must have gotten out of his cage again," she sighed, relieved.  
  
"Melissa, what do I keep telling you? You must keep that Jarvey of yours in its cage. The scientists don't like him and they keep thinking Max is going to insult them, making all of them distracted from their work.  
"Come on dad, you know we had Max trained by a professional wizard to be polite. He hardly ever insults anyone anymore," Melissa defended Max, while picking him up.  
  
"Me nicest Jarvey ever!" Max squeaked.  
  
"Nice yes, but that doesn't mean you won't wander from your cage. What happened Max?"  
  
"Me sleep on floor."  
  
"Well that doesn't explain how everything fell."  
  
"Me don't know. Me turn over. Tail in great pain. Stuff fall."  
  
"You know, our Puffskein and Muggle dog behave better than you. Ugh, let's just go upstairs," the doctor said frustrated, while scratching his head. Max never said anything that made sense.  
  
When they returned to the apartment, Dr. Wells told his wife everything, and she was ecstatic, causing them to talk about it the rest of the afternoon.  
Eventually, 5:00 came, and the whole family went down to the recreation room, just left of the laboratory, to have the celebration. All personnel attended the gathering. However, there was one person missing.  
  
"Daddy, where's that guy that lives on the same floor as us? I don't see him here," Melissa observed.  
  
"Oh, you mean Jack Benson?"  
  
"Yes, that's his name. I remember now," Melissa said, "Well, where is he?"  
  
"Jack isn't feeling very well, so he's not coming."  
  
"Since when?" she asked surprised.  
  
"Since this morning. He called the apartment saying he's fallen ill."  
  
"Oh, well, okay then." she replied, a bit unsure, "It doesn't fit. He seemed absolutely fine when I saw him." Melissa thought.  
  
Just then, Dr. Wells stood up and proceeded to speak.  
"My dear ladies and gentlemen of science, today indeed is a glorious day, and one that calls for immediate celebration. I would like to propose a toast to this company and the wonderful employees, and that we will continue to have more successful days like this in the future. Again, even though I couldn't include you in this research, I am extremely flattered and happy that I have such loyal people working for me, who I can share this special day with. To the company!"  
Everyone's glasses touched with a clink.  
  
Just then, a rather short scientist with a squeaky voice stood up. It took a while for Melissa to remember who he was because he was just recently hired.  
"I would like to say something," said the man, "If I may of course."  
  
"Of course you may, Walter. Be my guest," Dr. Wells said cheerfully.  
"Oh yes, Dr. Walter Lauer. I remember now," Melissa thought.  
  
"Thank you, Michael," said Dr. Lauer, "I never thought the day would come when I would get to be a part of a splendid event such as this. I am very excited on the completion of the formula and I know it will serve an excellent purpose. Thanks to you Dr. Wells, great things can and will be done."  
  
Walter held his glass up to Michael and smiled, and then sat back down.  
"Thank you Walter! I appreciate your kindness."  
  
"You're very welcome. Oh, and don't forget to hand your report in. It's very important." Dr. Lauer added.  
  
"Oh yes, that's right. I forgot all about it."  
  
Melissa, who was always keen on sensing things, seemed to be the only one in the room who found Walter's toast a bit strange. The tone of his voice sounded a little too sure of himself. Especially the way he thanked her father. It almost seemed as if he was thanking him for making the formula for him, and why was he so interested in that report?  
  
"Melissa? Would you be so kind as to write the report to the Ministry about this event now? Debbie, my secretary is on maternity leave, which I also forgot about. Meliss? Melissa, are you listening to me?"  
  
"Huh? Oh sorry, dad. Yes, I'll file the report right now," his daughter answered, interrupted from her thoughts.  
  
"Use the Muggle computer dear," he stated.  
  
"The Muggle computer, why?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Well, I would like you to be able to do some things for yourself, and not just solely rely on Magic. Plus, it's good to know about Muggle objects.  
  
Sighing, his daughter replied, "Yes dad, I'll start it straight away."  
Her father gave her the information she needed to type, and Melissa summoned the computer to the back room. As she did this, she found that Dr. Lauer was watching her. Quite uncomfortable, she went into the back room and started to type the report.   
  
Monthly Research Report  
Science Department  
  
Ministry of Magic  
  
Dr. Michael Wells  
  
Date: 8/15/04 Time: 5:30 P.M. Research Topic: Solution to Arizonian Poison Beak Vulture (APBV) attackings and or killings of Muggles and Magic Folk. Research: APBV transfigure themselves into anything, which results in the victim being defenseless and unknowing against them. To conceal themselves in the air, the weather drastically changes. The Poison Beak Vultures breathe out a highly dangerous toxin that renders the victim first dizzy, then unconscious for up to five hours if the APBV has enough time to administer it correctly. The purpose of this is how the Vultures capture their prey to eat. They sweat immensely after exerting the toxin because they wind up inhaling some of it. The toxin travels through the blood stream and is released through the skin. The normal APBV has poor eye sight, but can track its prey by scent or vibrations of movement. A single APBV will only attack its prey when it is alone, unless of course there are more APBVs in the area, then they will attack more people. They also possess immense strength and destructive tendencies. Lastly, when a wizard is in a Muggle area and there are vultures around, they will create an imbalance of Muggle and Wizard forces, sending Muggle objects and apparatuses haywire. It also sharpens a Wizard's intuition. The reason is still unknown, and mind spells to control behavior only work temporarily. Experiments: Attempt to make mind controlling formula to stop the APBV attackings. Solution (if any): Formula D2k75. Once administered, subject's thoughts, feelings, and actions are under total control.  
  
"There," thought Melissa, "Done."  
  
"Very thorough work, my dear," said a voice.  
  
Startled, Melissa immediately swung around in her chair, and saw it was Dr. Lauer, standing behind her. She also noticed he was carrying his brown leather briefcase with a black handle. Whenever Melissa saw him, he always had it, and would never put it down.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" she asked defensively.  
  
"Sorry, dear girl. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to see how your fathers report was coming," Dr. Lauer apologized.  
  
"Oh. Well, it's coming out just fine, thank you," Melissa replied sharply. "Glad to hear it," he smirked.  
  
"By the way, how long have you been behind me?"  
  
"Long enough to say that you are an excellent and thorough writer." Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she replied, "Well, thanks."  
  
"Anytime," Dr. Lauer smiled, while exiting the room.  
  
Feeling wary, Melissa printed out the report, and when she finished, she gave it to her father.  
  
"Excellent report! Thank you, dear," commented her father, "I'll have this forwarded to the Ministry tonight. In fact, right now. Titan! Come here!"  
Titan, her father's muscular gray owl, flew in and stood bold and tall, ready for his master's document.  
  
"Take this to Jonathan Chambers, Minister of Magic for the United States."  
  
As quick as he flew in, the proud owl flew out carrying the report.  
  
"Now that that's been taken care of, continue celebrating my friends. Eat, drink, and be merry."  
  
* * *  
Time passed, and 11:00 drew near, ending the party. Everyone returned to their apartments to retire for the night. Entering her bed, Melissa bid goodnight to Max, her Jarvey, Lula, her Puffskein, Winter, her owl, and finally her Muggle dog, Rolf. Then she fell asleep.  
  
All night she had horrible dreams, dreams, which consisted of that man, Dr. Lauer. He frightened her more than Jack Benson did. She dreamt that Dr. Lauer was a murderer and had killed twelve people, and then in her dream he looked straight at her, and killed her mother and father. She also had dreams of the vultures sweeping over some large castle like building screeching in madness and taking away innocent people. She started talking in her sleep. "No! Stop it. You killed them, no!" she screamed.  
  
Her parents, obviously hearing Melissa's shouts, had run in the room to see what was wrong.  
  
"Liss, wake up what's the matter?" her dad asked while shaking her.  
  
Immediately, she woke up and was in a cold sweat. Seeing that she was only dreaming, and that her father and mother weren't dead, she hugged them tightly.  
  
"It's just a dream. You'll be okay," her mom said comfortingly.  
  
Melissa took a deep breath and tried to relax. When she was calm, her father wanted to get her mind off her dream, so he said to her, "Can you do me a favor dear?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Can you go downstairs and unlock the lab and get it all ready for me? It's 5:00 in the morning, and it's about the time I'd be getting up."  
  
"Sure dad, no problem."  
  
Melissa got dressed and went downstairs.  
  
When she got off the elevator she made her usual two lefts then a right to get to the lab.  
  
"Mors Avitus!" she said aloud.  
  
The doors opened and she when inside and with turning on the lights, she expected everything to be normal. Then she noticed something was wrong, a big something. The vultures were not behind the glass! They were gone, leaving only their feathers strewn about the room, and tons of broken glass from where they were held. Thinking back to her fathers report, Melissa remembered that the vultures could transfigure themselves into anything, so they could all be hiding in the room, and possibly stalk her as prey. Wasting no time, she ran back upstairs to notify her father of what happened.  
  
In the elevator, she frantically pressed the button to bring her back upstairs.  
  
"Come on, hurry up you stupid thing!" The ride up seemed to take forever as she paced back and forth in the tiny space.  
  
"Ding," the elevator had reached the fourth floor.  
  
"Dad! Dad! Dad!" she screamed in horror, not even reaching the apartment yet.  
  
Her dad heard the noise in the hallway and opened the door immediately.  
  
"What's wrong Melissa? Good gracious, what's the matter?"  
  
"Oh Daddy, it's horrible! The vultures! They're gone!"  
  
"Gone!? What on Earth do you mean gone!"  
  
"Stolen, daddy! Somebody stole them!"  
  
Hearing the commotion Jack stepped out of his apartment. "Did you just say someone stole the vultures?" he asked, shocked.  
  
"Yes, they're gone without a trace! Except for the glass, the glass, it's everywhere!"  
  
Dr. Wells and Jack looked at each other half frightened. "Well let's get down there. We're wasting time just standing here." Jack said. Then with a flash, the three of them raced downstairs. The elevator ride was ridden in silence and the atmosphere was filled with worry and horror. When the elevator let them off, they raced into the laboratory. Jack and her father saw all of what she said was true. Checking to make sure the vultures didn't transfigure themselves into anything, the doctor panned around the laboratory with some device resembling a Geiger counter. Receiving no readings, he concluded they were truly gone, and could think of nothing else to say but, "Jack, call the police. Now! Melissa, don't touch anything. We'll be right back!"  
  
Jack and her father ran up the stairs. Scared out of her wits, Melissa's eyes traced the room over and over, looking for any clue. Then she saw something. Examining it further she noticed that it was a briefcase. In fact, she recognized it to be the same one owned by Walter Lauer, which he had with him earlier! Melissa was positive this was his, because no other scientist possessed this particular briefcase. She then figured there must initials on it. She never really took notice of them before. No one did, so she turned it over.  
  
"The initials would definitely prove this was Dr. Lauer's," Melissa thought.  
  
However, the initials she saw were not at all W.L.  
  
"What? I don't understand. This is most definitely his. He always carries it. Come to think of it he would never let anyone touch it, and never showed the initial side. Who is this man really?" Melissa puzzled.  
  
The initials on the briefcase were P.P. 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Strange Happenings  
  
  
As the midday sun had shown through the upstairs bedroom on Number Four Privet Drive, Harry Potter sat on his bed, and watched a black spider crawl across his ceiling. It was now the middle of August, and his summer with the Dursleys would be coming to a close.  
  
Turning his head to look at the clock on the nightstand, the little neon green numbers showed that it was noon. He rubbed his growling stomach and sat up. He was hungry, but he dared not go downstairs, for Mr. Dursley was in a fouler mood than usual. He had recently lost a major client to his drill making company, Grunnings. Harry honestly wasn't surprised though. His uncle's hot temper was enough to cause a raging tidal wave to swallow an island whole.  
  
Harry's eyes traveled back to the lonesome spider, which suddenly spotted a fly. As fast as its little legs could carry it, the spider charged the unsuspecting insect, and swallowed it in one gulp.  
  
BAM! BAM! BAM! Uncle Vernon knocked on Harry's door so hard, that the poor spider dropped from the ceiling, like a piano being thrown off a building. Recovering, it scampered across the navy blue carpet, and climbed the window curtain to hide.  
  
"ARE YOU AWAKE YET, BOY?" Vernon's voice boomed, causing Hedwig to shield her head with her wings.  
  
"Yes, Uncle." Harry answered in the most pleasant tone that he could fake.  
  
"WELL GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"  
"Coming, Uncle."  
  
As he heard Mr. Dursely's elephant feet stomp down the stairs, he got off his bed and looked at Hedwig.  
  
"I have a feeling that today is going to be horrible," he sighed, "Wish me luck."  
  
She hooted encouragingly as he opened the door, and headed down the stairs.  
  
When he came down, he saw the family waiting by the front door, as if ready to leave. He looked at them quizzically.  
  
"We are going to The Malt Shoppe and then food shopping," Aunt Petunia said, snottily.  
  
"Oh great, back to Mrs. Figg's smelly and cat ridden house," he thought to himself.  
  
Harry could just picture himself trying to sit on the couch in her living room, and having dust come out from underneath him.  
  
"Unfortunately though, we have to take you with us because Mrs. Figg has fallen ill with the flu," Aunt Petunia added.  
  
Harry broke away from his thoughts. "What? You mean I'm going with you?"  
  
"She just said that! Listen to your Aunt for a change! Yes boy, you are coming, but believe me, if you do anything out of the ordinary, and I mean anything, you will be locked in your bedroom until Doomsday, with only one meal per day! I swear on my word!" he threatened, his cheeks reddening.  
Harry stepped backward from the force of his words, and also the fact that his uncle really needed a mint.  
  
"I won't do anything."  
  
Mr. Dursley just stared at him, unconvinced.  
  
Dudley was about to protest about Harry being able to come, when Aunt Petunia covered his mouth and yanked him back. She knew better than to try her husband's patience when he was in a mood like this.  
  
Mr. Dursley opened the door for his wife and son as they went out. Harry tried walking behind them, but his uncle shoved him out of the way, and went out first. Being the last one to exit the house, Harry was handed the keys to lock the door, while being under the watchful eyes of his uncle. Handing Vernon back the keys, Harry walked ahead of him to the car, and entered the back seat. Immediately, Dudley gave him a menacing look.  
  
"It's all your fault! If it wasn't for you, I'd be having so much fun!" Dudley whined loud, so his dad could hear him, as he approached the car.  
  
About to open the door to get in, Mr. Dursley yelled, "HARRY POTTER! STOP ANNOYING DUDLEY! SERIOUSLY BOY, DON'T YOU EVER STOP? MY WORD YOU ARE JUST LIKE THAT NO GOOD, ECCENTRIC, DIRTY, CRACKPOT FAMILY OF YOURS!"  
  
Just then, a surge of anger spread throughout Harry like wildfire. How could he belittle his parents, who fought and gave their own lives for him?  
  
"WHY WON'T THIS BLOODY CAR UNLOCK!" roared Uncle Vernon, who was trying to turn his key into the lock, but the key wouldn't budge.  
  
Harry was distracted by his Uncle's yelling and realized what he just did.  
  
"Okay, think happy thoughts. I'm going back to school in a few weeks, no more Dursleys, I'm seeing my friends." he thought, to distract himself from his anger.  
  
It worked evidently, because a few seconds later, Mr. Dursley was able to turn the key, and open the door.  
  
When he got in the car, Vernon gave Harry a suspicious look.  
  
"I didn't do anything," he lied.  
  
Without saying a word, Uncle Vernon turned around, clearly not believing him, and started the car.  
  
The ride to the "Towne Malt and Ice Cream Shoppe", also known as just "The Malt Shoppe" was short, but definitely not pleasant. Dudley decided to play a "game" with Harry. Every time he'd see a green car pass them, he'd pinch Harry's arm hard.  
  
"Ow! Stop it, Dudley!" Harry shouted, pushing him away, "I guess green isn't my lucky color," he thought while rubbing his arm.  
  
"Ouch! Quit it!"  
  
"Haha, you're such a baby, Harry," Dudley sneered.  
  
"Ack! Stop it!" Harry shouted, as he shoved his cousin.  
  
Dudley still wasn't done. As yet another green car passed their own, Dudley again pinched his arm, harder than ever.  
  
"I SAID STOP!"  
  
"Egads! What's all the commotion back there?" exclaimed Aunt Petunia, turning her head to look at Dudley.  
  
"Mum! Harry's ruining my fun!" he whined.  
  
"BOTH OF YOU BE QUIET THIS INSTANT! I WANT SILENCE IN THIS CAR UNTIL WE GET THERE! I ALREADY HAVE A HEADACHE, BUT NOW IT'S GETTING WORSE!"  
  
"Vernon dear, it's not Dudley's fault."  
  
"I know its not, but I want silence!" he commanded.  
  
He got his wish immediately. You could hear a pin drop in their old and tan Buick. Dudley looked as if he was about to throw a tantrum, but seemed to change his mind at the stern look his mother gave him.  
  
Relieved, now that he would no longer be pinched to the point where it would break his skin, Harry sighed. He was excited about going to "The Malt Shoppe." Whenever he went out walking, he would always pass it. He decided to look into the window once, and saw so many lovely ice creams, and milk shakes. He always wanted to go in, but he never had any money to buy anything. Now though, he would get his chance.  
  
As they pulled into the parking lot and parked the car, Uncle Vernon reminded him once more to be on his best behavior.  
  
"You remember what I said before. Don't do anything foolish," he looked at Harry sternly.  
  
"I won't." Harry replied, looking his uncle in the eye.  
  
They got out of the Buick and headed inside. The tables and wallpaper looked like something stellar that you'd see in outer space. There were tons of bright cosmic colors all over. The tables were iridescently displayed with an array of colors that you'd see in a kaleidoscope, and changed hues when the light hit them. The chairs matched the tables exactly, and the wallpaper was a deep blue, blending well with the rest of its atmosphere.  
  
"What sort of crazy youth hangout is this?" Uncle Vernon snorted, as they picked a table.  
  
"Well Vernon, I didn't think it would be this way. This is a fairly new place in town, and it's been getting excellent reviews."  
"Humph! Evidently the interior decorating critics haven't been here yet," Mr. Dursley replied.  
Watch my purse Dudders, while mommy goes and buys you something sweet!" she said while playfully pinching his cheek.  
  
"Umm.what am I getting?" Harry asked.  
Narrowing her eyes at him, she answered,"You'll take what we give you, and be lucky you are getting anything."  
  
Then, she and her husband approached the counter to place their orders. Harry prayed whatever he got didn't taste like old shoe leather, the way Mrs. Figg's chocolate cake did.  
  
His mind wandering, Harry saw a boy and a girl sitting at a table near them, sharing a banana spilt while talking and laughing. They seemed to be having a good time and he wished more than anything he would get an opportunity like that with Cho.  
  
"Maybe someday." he thought.  
  
He was interrupted from his dreaming, by Dudley, who started poking him in the stomach.  
  
"Lay off, Dudley," Harry groaned. He wasn't in the mood to pick a fight with him.  
  
"You're so stupid Harry, do you know that?" Dudley teased, while prodding him some more.  
  
Getting frustrated, Harry looked at him sharply, "Listen you fat glob, don't poke me or I will eat the rest of your cookies in the house!" Harry threatened.  
  
Shooting him an angry look, Dudley scowled, "You better not, I'd tell on you for sure! Remember what happened yesterday!"  
  
"Really, Dudley, what more can they do to me they haven't already done? I'm sure my punishment wouldn't be too bad." Harry sneered.  
  
Dudley was about to punch him, when his mom and dad came back with their sweets, causing Dudley to forget about hitting Harry, and stare at the goodies. Both Mr. and Mrs. Durlsey got a Strawberry Parfait, and Dudley received three fruit and yogurt parfaits, with blueberries, strawberries, and cherry pieces, in white frozen yogurt. He also got a Hot Fudge Sundae too. Harry wasn't surprised, considering Dudley ate like a pig normally.  
  
As he expected, he didn't get anything as rich as Dudley did, but he got a cheap, kid-sized, chocolate milkshake. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. Not to mention, it was delicious.  
  
He slowly sipped his shake as he watched Dudley wolf down his first parfait, with yogurt dripping down his triple chin. Not even stopping to wipe it, he started on his second. "Gross..." thought Harry  
  
"That's my little Duddypoo. Eat up sweetheart," Aunt Petunia smiled happily. "Little tyke's going to be big and strong just like his daddy!" chuckled Uncle Vernon, "Oh Petunia, we did such a marvelous job raising him," he said while grabbing his wife's hand lovingly.  
  
Harry was so grossed out, that he had to turn away and look out the window, into the parking lot.  
  
"I wish that I could say the same for him," Aunt Petunia addressed Harry in such a manor, that she seemed too disgusted to say his name . "Now Petunia, don't be so hard on yourself. We tried out best to make him turn out to be a decent boy, but you know, there was only so much we could have done. Some children just can't be tamed, and will always remain their unscrupulous selves.  
  
Harry clenched his teeth. They always spoke negatively to each other about him, especially when Harry was present to hear it. Shifting on the seat, Harry kept his eyes staring out the picture window.  
  
When Harry thought the Dursley's little discussion of him was over, he turned back around, and slouched with his head on the cushiony headrest on the wall, and stared at the ceiling. It was the prettiest thing he ever saw. The ceiling was painted to look like outer space. The space itself was a very dark blue, not quite black. The stars were a mixture of a lighter blue and a white. There weren't any planets, just stars, in what looked like billions. Harry couldn't imagine how long it must have taken to paint all of them.  
  
Drifting his eyes back to Dudley, Harry saw that he was now on his third parfait. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were watching him with looks of joy on their faces. Harry finished his mini milkshake, and got up to throw it in the garbage. Before he walked away from the table, Uncle Vernon stopped Harry, and gave him Dudley's empty plastic parfait cups. Frowning, Harry took them, and put them in the space ship garbage can.  
  
Returning to the table, he slouched in the seat, and let his mind wander. It actually was starting to look like a good day for once with the Dursleys, hopefully anyway. Harry could just recall the disastrous events from yesterday.  
  
It was the middle of the night, and Harry put his ear to his bedroom door. He could hear the monstrous sound of his uncle's snoring, which was definitely a good sign. He ever so quietly turned the brass knob and opened his white door, revealing the dark upstairs hallway. Carefully, he felt along the walls to guide him, so that he wouldn't bump into anything. "One of these days I'm going to trip over something and wake them up. I hate walking in the dark, and a flashlight would come in handy right now," he thought to himself, as he narrowly missed stubbing his toe on the grandfather clock.  
  
Little did Harry know that he would soon dislike walking in the dark for other unfathomable reasons than knocking into things.  
  
When he got to the stairs, he walked down them with silent stealth, skipping the creaking step that would surely give him away. Then, as he approached the kitchen, he flicked the switch, and turned the light on. His eyes soon found themselves looking at the refrigerator, and he approached it.  
  
Sifting through the shelves, he could find nothing appealing. He looked past the butter, past the jams, and the four-month-old goulash, but couldn't find a single snack.  
  
"This is evidently Dudley's doing. That piggy cousin of mine can't seem to keep his head out of the refrigerator, or food from his mouth," he thought.  
  
Frowning, Harry closed the door. It looks like he wouldn't be having anything to eat tonight. Harry leaned with his back against the left door, with his arms crossed, and staring at the floor. Just then, his face brightened up when he remembered about the pantry, or the "Forbidden Pantry" as Harry called it. He was never allowed in there, simply because all it really happened to be was a storeroom for all of Dudley's favorite candies and snacks. An evil grin emerged on Harry's face. He walked to the pantry and opened it. He pulled the little string attached to the light bulb, and it turned on with a click. Harry was immediately taken aback. The pantry looked like something out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There were literally tons and tons of treats. Everything from numerous flavored lollipops, chocolates, cookies, hard candies, potato chips, fudge brownies, pies, cakes, marshmallows, chewing gum, toffees, jellybeans, mints, gumdrops, and so much more. Harry looked at everything in awe, and had absolutely no idea what to take, because there were so many choices.  
  
He stood there for some time, debating on whether he was in candy mood, or a cookie mood. Finally coming to a conclusion, he decided that he wanted a cookie, so Harry sifted through all the seemingly endless varieties on the racks. He stopped when he saw a dark chocolate one and decided to take it. Harry also grabbed a few chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies as well. He didn't know though, that the dark chocolate cookie was the only one of its kind left.  
  
"I can't believe how many there are! It's a good thing though, because Dudley won't be able to realize any of them are missing," Harry laughed to himself, as he pulled the string to turn of the light in the pantry, and closed the door. Then, he turned off the light in the kitchen and went upstairs. Harry put the cookies in his one hand, as he used the other to guide him back to his room. He soon reached the door and went inside, closing it noiselessly behind him. Harry sat on his bed, and turned on the little lamp on the end table. There he ate his yummy treats, and stared at his ceiling. Harry noticed he did that a lot, probably because he had nothing better to do, except for his summer assignments from school, which Harry had to do by night, so the Dursleys wouldn't discover him. Speaking of which, he still had some Transfiguration homework to do.  
  
Checking his clock, the time read 1:00. Assessing his energy level, Harry decided that he was still awake enough to do the work. He gathered his books from their hiding place, and opened the book all Fourth Years received before the end of term, called The Art of Transfiguration: Bridge to Grade Five. Harry had to write an essay on the history of the misuse of transfiguration. It was already more than halfway done, so he decided to finish it. Harry ate the cookies while he worked, and finished his essay around 2:10 in the morning. He went to bed immediately after, pulling his pine green covers over him, as he could feel the contentment of his stomach. He fell asleep in an instant.  
  
That very morning around 9:00, Harry was awoken by a very loud noise. He shot up from his bed, and put on his glasses. It sounded like bombs were being dropped in sync, while he could hear his uncle's voice booming downstairs. Investigating, Harry crept out of his room and stood in the upstairs hallway to listen better.  
  
"WHAT THE DEVIL DO YOU MEAN WE LOST HIM?" his uncle seemed to be yelling into a phone. "NOT A CLIENT ANYMORE? WELL WHY BLOODY NOT? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY WE MADE FROM HIS BUSINESS?"."WE MADE TONS YOU FOOL! HE WAS THE BEST CLIENT WE HAD!"."WHAT? YOU SAY HE SWITCHED OVER TO SMITHESONS? OUR RIVALS? BLOODY HELL THAT DOES IT! NOW SMITHESONS WILL SELL MORE DRILLS THAN WE WILL, AND THEY'LL BE LAUGHING IN OUR FACES! I WANT THAT DEVIL OF A CLIENT BACK! I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, OR WHO YOU FIRE, BRING BACK THAT CLIENT! I'LL BE THERE FOR A EMERGENCY MEETING IN A LITTLE BIT!" he shouted while slamming the phone down, hanging it up.  
  
"Oh no." thought Harry, "This is not going to be a good week." Whenever his uncle went into one of his feared rages, it lasted quite a long time, even when he seemed calm, the slightest thing could send him into a screaming frenzy.  
  
Harry's aunt ran into the room to see what the commotion was all about. He knew this because he could hear her voice from upstairs. Uncle Vernon told her everything, and that he had to leave for work immediately, even though this was his day off, because there were people that needed to be fired.  
  
"Now, I want to have a word with the boy. I'm going to give him fair warning not to try my anger today!" Vernon huffed.  
  
Hearing this, Harry made a dash to his room and acted like he overheard nothing. He grabbed the nearest book and sat on his bed pretending to read it, when his aunt and uncle came in. His eyes skimmed the pages when he realized the book he picked up to read. It was his Transfiguration book! If they noticed he was reading one of his books on magic, it would send Uncle Vernon into an uncontrollable rage. He couldn't stash it, because they were now standing right in front of him. Harry covered the title with his hands while he "read". He just had to pray they didn't take any notice.  
  
"I WANT A WORD WITH YOU YOUNG MAN!" his uncle shouted, half deafening Harry, who was only a few centimeters away on his bed.  
  
"Yes, Uncle?" Harry said softly. He could see the veins in Mr. Dursley's forehead pulsate as he spoke. He seemed to be angry just looking at him.  
  
"I am having a bad day, so I think I should warn you to watch yourself! I wouldn't try anything funny if I were you, because you will most definitely regret it! IF YOU PUT ONE TOE OUT OF LINE, YOU ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE! YOU WILL REGRET TRYING MY ANGER.NO FUNNY BUSINESS.DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Mr. Durlsey said, raising his voice once again.  
  
"Perfectly," Harry replied, now that his uncle was in his face, practically spitting on him when he talked.  
  
His uncle now backed away, eyeing Harry angrily, and he said to Petunia, "Tell me if he misbehaves, and especially if he does anything associated with 'his crowd'."  
  
Aunt Petunia nodded.  
"Say, what are you reading boy? I don't remember you having books in here?" he questioned.  
  
"I.um.uh.it's the book.Tale of Two Cities," Harry thought quickly.  
"Where did you get it?" his uncle interrogated.  
  
"Uh.um.I.got it from the.basement yesterday when Aunt Petunia asked me to go turn up the air conditioner because it was too hot. I. uh. saw it there and.decided it looked interesting so I.uh.picked it up to read," Harry stammered.  
Harry wasn't totally lying. He did see the book down there yesterday when he turned up the cool air. The lie was that he just didn't take it with him.  
  
"Let me see the book," his uncle commanded.  
  
"Um Uh..Er." Harry uttered, grasping the book tightly.  
  
"What's the matter boy? Give it to me."  
Eyes wide, Harry was trying to form an excuse on why not to give the book to his uncle, when thankfully, Aunt Petunia looked at the clock, which now showed it was 9:30.  
  
"Vernon! You're going to be late for the meeting at work! Look at the time!"  
Distracted by his wife he said, "Good heavens thank you for telling me dear! I must leave now! You need to go to work too! We both should be off!" He and Harry's aunt scrambled out of his room, and down the stairs, when Mrs. Dursley called out, "Harry! Don't forget to cook Dudley breakfast!"  
  
Harry shouted an "I know" back at them as he heard the front door slam. Good they had left. Harry could now breathe a sigh of relief. He narrowly escaped getting caught with his Transfiguration book. He wasn't sure whether or not they would want to see it later, so Harry crept past Dudley's room, in which Dudley was still sleeping, and ran down into the basement and grabbed the novel he claimed to be reading. He then darted back upstairs and put it in his room.  
  
He plopped himself back on his bed, and once again stared at the ceiling, with nothing to do. He turned to look at Hedwig, while she cleaned her feathers. Noticing him, she immediately stopped and met his gaze.  
"Good morning Hedwig," Harry smiled.  
  
She hooted delightfully, and softly pecked at her cage lock, to entice him to let her out. "All right, Hedwig," Harry laughed, "But don't let Dudley hear you, or I will be in deep trouble. I'm sure you heard all the commotion downstairs as well. Hmm, I wonder why Dudley didn't."  
  
Harry opened the golden cage and his beautiful white owl flew into the room and hovered next to the window, tapping her beak to the glass.  
"Well I don't know Hedwig, If the Dursley's find out that you're gone."  
Hedwig interrupted him with a hoot of acrimony, telling him to just open the window already, and stop fussing.  
  
Sighing, Harry said, "Okay you win. Just make sure you get back before my aunt and uncle come home."  
  
He unlatched his window with a creak, and pushed it open for her. Hooting with gratitude, she zoomed from the house, and out of sight.  
Feeling the cool morning wind brush against his face, Harry, who sighed again, looked out into the sunny sky.  
  
Like Hedwig, he too wanted to fly from his own cage. He yearned to return to Hogwarts, and to see his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. He had met them in his first year, and the three have become inseparable ever since. He missed everything about Hogwarts. It was what he really considered home, not this house of imprisonment where his thoughts, dreams, and life were no longer free. He felt trapped like a genie in a bottle, having no escape, until someone or something came to let him out. That something was Hogwarts and his friends. They were the key to his jail cell, releasing him from his fortress of doom, so that Harry could once again know what it was like to live.  
  
Just then, Harry could hear Dudley's loud yawning, "Oh great, the baby rhino is awake," he thought. He listened to Dudley run downstairs, and then stomp back up them to pound on Harry's door.  
  
"Hey freak! Where's my breakfast?"  
  
Harry rolled his eyes and replied, "Learn to cook, Dudley."  
  
Scowling, Dudley punched Harry's door harder and said, "Make me my breakfast! I'm so going to tell my dad. You know the mood he's in!"  
  
Thinking for a moment, Harry frowned and thought it best to listen to Dudley. He couldn't imagine the trouble he'd be in. He also didn't want a big hole in his door.  
  
"Fine, I'm coming." Harry replied sharply.  
Harry slammed the door open, almost hitting Dudley, who jumped back just in time. Dumbfounded, he followed Harry to the kitchen.  
  
Dudley sat at the table, as he opened the refrigerator and took out Dudley's usual: ham, eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Harry wasn't allowed to have any of that because it was his cousin's food to keep him "strong". He just had to settle with one slice of French toast. It was something though, at least.  
  
Harry put the pans on the stove and started to cook. Dudley said, "While you're making me my yummy food, I'll go and have an appetizer."  
"Dudley, I don't care what you do," He replied.  
His porky cousin left the table and went into his private pantry. Cracking an egg over the pan, Harry fried it along with the bacon and sausages, letting the delicious aroma fill his nose.  
  
Time passed and the breakfast was almost done, and Harry could no longer resist the appealing smell. He turned off the stove and grabbed a fork and stole a piece of bacon for himself, putting it on a napkin to cool. He started to set the food on Dudley's plate when he once again started to hear Dudley's monstrous footsteps heavily stomping on the ground. Harry grabbed the slice of bacon and stuffed it in his mouth and ate it as fast as he could. Hearing his cousin's footsteps stop a few feet behind him, Harry swung himself around, and he found himself looking at a very angry Dudley, who was clenching his fists together.  
  
"What's the matter with you?" Harry asked, sarcastically.  
Face reddening like his father's, Dudley huffed, "You ate my last dark fudge cookie!"  
  
Taken aback, Harry lied, "No I didn't!"  
"Yes you did, you liar!"  
"Dudley, you probably ate it yourself." Harry retorted, rolling his eyes.  
"Nice try pipsqueak. I was saving that last cookie for today, and its not there. Cookies don't just disappear."  
  
"Don't look at me. You probably just misplaced it in there, with all those millions of other chocolate chip, sugar, and oatmeal raisin ones, not to mention all those lollipops and chocolates you have in there."  
"Aha! I knew it! You did steal it!"  
"What do you mean?" "You're not allowed in there, so how do you know the kinds of cookies and candies that I have?"  
  
Speechless, Harry couldn't believe he'd been so stupid as to let his guard down. He was also shocked that Dudley was smart enough to realize such a thing. Could this be the first signs of his late maturation?  
"Burp!"  
Well, maybe not just yet, but still, quite an amazing act on his part.  
  
"Don't deny it Harry. You took it. I know you did."  
"Dudley, it's just a cookie. I don't understand the."  
"It's my cookie! You can't eat it! Mommy bought that for me, not you.  
"Umm, so she can buy you more. What's so bad about that?"  
"I WANT MY COOKIE NOW, THAT'S WHY!"  
"Well Dudley, you need to learn that you can't always get your way. Grow up."  
  
Harry started to regret saying that, because he could see a Dudley tantrum coming on. His cousin's face went bright red, and he started jumping up and down, causing the china to rattle on the shelves in the next room.  
  
"I'M TELLING MY FATHER! YOU CAN'T EAT MY COOKIE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE, EVEN MORE NOW THAT HE'S IN A ROTTEN MOOD! I AM GOING TO LAUGH SO HARD AT YOU, YOU STUPID RAT!"  
  
Harry honestly didn't care anymore at this point, and was rather hungry, so he got an idea.  
  
"Hey Dudley, is that a fudge bar on the counter over there by the back door?"  
  
"Huh? Where?" he asked dumbly, turning his back to look at the counter.  
Harry immediately grabbed a piece of sausage from Dudley's plate and stuffed it into his mouth, enjoying the taste.  
  
"Huh, I don't see any fudge.Hey, wait a minute! Did you take something?" Dudley accused, inspecting his dish.  
"Me? Why, no. I wouldn't dream of it." Harry said smartly, as he swallowed the sausage.  
  
"Hey! One of my sausages is missing!"  
"Well isn't that just a pity. I wonder where it went." Harry said, trying to maintain his composure, but he kept grinning.  
  
Finally realizing Harry had taken it, Dudley pressed his fists together and said, "That's it Harry, you're toast!" He lunged at him, but Harry being quite more alert, stepped out of the way, and Dudley grabbed onto nothing but air, and fell on the ground.  
  
"HARRY POTTER YOU ARE SO DEAD!" he threatened as he got back up.  
"Catch me if you can, Dudley." Harry smiled as he ran.  
Dudley chased him around the table four times, almost catching him the fifth by going around the opposite side of the table, but Harry's quick reflexes were very sharp, so he dashed into the living room, and hid behind the couch.  
He waited for his oaf of a cousin to be upon it, when Harry jumped up and shouted, "Boo!" scaring Dudley, causing him to fall again.  
  
Laughing, Harry ran out of the room and up the stairs. He found this to be great fun, knowing that he would never catch him, because Dudley was a lot slower than he was. Harry just had to make his cousin run a little bit and he'd get tired shortly.  
  
Dudley was soon behind him once again, and chased him all around the upstairs, into his room. Cornered, Harry hopped over a large pile of magazines, knocking some over as he ran out of the room.  
  
He then charged into his aunt and uncle's bedroom and stood in the corner as Dudley came in, huffing and puffing.  
"Had enough yet?" Harry smirked.  
  
"No.I'll.get you," he panted, again lunging at Harry from the opposite side of the bed. Harry jumped over the rose colored blankets, narrowly missing Dudley's grasp, causing him to fall face down onto the bed, as Harry ran down the stairs. Grunting, Dudley pursued him again, his energy slowly being devoured by his fat. Slowing up, he followed Harry back into the kitchen, where he then sat at the table, gasping for air. Sitting in another, Harry laughed, "Done yet? If not, don't worry, I have plenty of energy left in me to run some more, if you'd like."  
Dudley spat out his words in increments while trying to catch his breath, his chest heaving in and out.  
  
"Fine.You.may have won.the war, but not.the battle."  
"Dudley, it's 'You may have won the battle, but not the war.' Stupid."  
"Yeah.just what you.said," he replied, "It doesn't matter though.I'm going to tell dad.and you'll be.in so much trouble."  
  
"Whatever, Dudley," Harry rolled his eyes and went to his room, finding Hedwig sitting on his bed.  
"Back already?" Harry asked, "You didn't miss much, just Dudley, who is threatening me again."  
Hedwig opened her eyes wide.  
  
"Yeah I know my uncle is in a terrible mood, but hopefully.ah.what's the use of denial, yes, I'm dead meat," he sighed, sitting himself on the bed, staring at his blue carpet.  
  
Sometime later, he heard the crunching of the stones of gravel in his driveway. That could only have meant one thing, the Dursley's were home!  
"Quick, Hedwig, back in the cage!"  
  
Without any fuss, she flew into it like a flash, and Harry locked her in. He then sat on his bed now reading the real Tale of Two Cities, just thinking about his approaching doom. Harry could hear the front door open and close, not to mention Dudley's wailing. Harry couldn't hear exactly what was said because he was all the way in his room. As he expected, he could now here footsteps approaching in his direction.  
  
"Oh well, here we go," Harry whispered to himself.  
  
The door slammed open, banged the wall so hard that the knob left a very noticeable hole in it, and in walked a fuming Uncle Vernon. He marched to Harry's bed, and pulled him up by the ear to stand in front of him.  
  
"Ack.let go of my ear! It hurts!"  
"A LOT MORE THAN THAT IS GOING TO HURT IF YOU DON'T SILENCE YOUR TONGUE!" Vernon spat, the force of his breath blowing back Harry's hair.  
  
"What did I do now?" Harry shouted, so he could hear himself over his uncle.  
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, YOU DISORDERLY BRAT! YOU STOLE FROM DUDLEY, AND MADE HIM CHASE YOU TO MAKE A FOOL OUT OF HIMSELF!"  
  
"It was just a cookie! WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?" Harry hollered.  
  
"DON'T TAKE THAT TONE OF VOICE WITH ME, YOU UNRULY CHILD! THAT'S DUDLEY'S FOOD. YOU ARE SO SELFISH! YOU ACT LIKE WE STARVE YOU!"  
  
"Well, to be perfectly honest, uncle, you feed me so meagerly, that it's about enough to satisfy a parrot!"  
  
"YOU INSOLENT GUTTERSNIPE! WE FEED YOU PLENTY! WE'VE SHOWN YOU SO MUCH GENOROSITY SINCE YOU CAME HERE!"  
"Locking me under the stairs for most of my life is generous? Right." Harry answered sarcastically.  
  
"THAT'S ENOUGH! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS BACKTALK! NO MEALS FOR A MONTH EXCEPT FOR THE OCCASIONAL BREAD AND WATER! IF YOU SO MUCH AS EAT A CRUMB FROM THE REFRIGERATOR, YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE DEAD BOY! LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU!"  
  
"Great, prison food," Harry thought.  
"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"  
"As a crystal ball."  
  
Uncle Vernon's nostrils flared at Harry's response, but changed his mind on yelling at him, and turned around and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.  
  
Rubbing his sore ear, Harry stuck his tongue out at the door in defiance, and swore under his breath.  
  
He turned to look at Hedwig, who stared blankly at him with shock.  
"Sorry about that, girl. As you know, my uncle is a real wacko. Ugh, my ear hurts, is it really red?"  
  
Hedwig hooted that it was, and Harry turned to look at the small mirror on his end table and commented, "Whoa, yeah, that's gonna take a while to get back to normal."  
  
He took ice from the drink he had earlier, and put it on his ear. The coldness was very comforting. Harry laid himself onto his bed, icing his ear, and did so until his aunt called him down for dinner, about two hours later.  
  
"Let's go Harry, dinner now!" Petunia screeched  
  
Groaning, he got up and laid the ice he didn't use, back into the cup, and headed out of his room to the table. He got there and seated himself quietly, not making eye contact with anyone. Dudley, who usually teases Harry after he gets in trouble, was unusually silent. He feared his father's temper too, and just decided to eat his two steaks with mashed potatoes instead.  
  
"Here. Here's your dinner." Aunt Petunia huffed, handing Harry just what he was told he'd be getting, bread and water.  
  
"Wow, a whole two slices. Thanks," he muttered.  
"What did you say, boy?"  
"Nothing."  
  
"Well hurry up and eat! We don't exactly have all day," his aunt snapped.  
Harry munched on his two slices of white bread, and sipped his glass of water, finishing them in no time. He got up, pushed the chair in, put his plate in the sink, and went back to his room.  
  
"Harry? Harry! Stop zoning out and pay attention!" his aunt called to him from across the table in "The Malt Shoppe".  
  
Snapping back into reality, Harry looked at his aunt.  
"Now that I have your attention, if you don't mind, we need to go grocery shopping now, unless you want to stay here and fantasize about nothing all day." She said, quite displeased.  
  
Getting off the seat, Harry looked at Dudley, who had chocolate syrup from his ice cream, all over his mouth.  
  
"Dudley, you may want to wipe that syrup off yourself," he commented.  
"Huh?"  
  
"You have chocolate on your face," Harry repeated.  
  
"Oh," Dudley replied as he picked up a napkin and used it.  
  
"What a genius." Harry thought, rolling his eyes as they all turned and left "The Malt Shoppe".  
  
Back in the car again, they pulled out of the parking lot, and headed down the highway, to their local supermarket. Harry stared out the window to the sky. The breezy clouds were blowing to the sun, covering it, and giving shade to the ground below. Those clouds were then followed by stormy ones, making the sky dark. Rain exited the clouds and dropped down, cooling the hot air. Everyone in the car was happy to see the rain, because this week set the record as one of the hottest days of summer England had ever seen. Uncle Vernon seemed the only one who was displeased.  
  
"Blasted rain makes the whole day a lot drearier. Not to mention I'm probably going to have salt stains from the water get on my car. Always right after I wash it, it rains," he grumbled to himself, eyes transfixed on the road.  
  
Rolling his eyes, Harry returned his gaze again to the car window and watched the rain spatter onto the highway, along with the cars passing them.  
  
"Crazy weather isn't it Vernon? One moment it's sunny, the next it's pouring. Not usual for the weather in our area," Aunt Petunia commented.  
  
"I know, and I don't like it. I just washed this car yesterday!"  
"Oh, rotten luck! Still, to make you feel better, I can take it again for you tomorrow."  
  
"Thank you darling, I have tons of stress to worry about tomorrow. I don't know how exactly we are going to get that client back, and you getting the car rewashed takes one more task I need to do, off my mind."  
  
"You're welcome," she replied  
  
"Uh, Petunia, just don't show me the bill."  
"Okay."  
  
"Oh, and don't let Harry anywhere near my car tomorrow, I don't want him destroying it."  
  
"Of course, I wouldn't think of letting him near it."  
  
"How did I know that was coming?" Harry thought to himself.  
  
Expecting to hear a snicker from Dudley, Harry turned his head to look at him. He was very relieved at what he saw. Dudley was sleeping.  
"At least he'll be quiet for a little while at least," Harry laughed to himself.  
The rest of the car ride was peaceful and quiet, with the exception of the roaring of the rain soaked highway, and the occasional snort from Harry's sleeping cousin.  
  
Entering, the supermarket parking lot, Mrs. Dursley called to Dudley from the front seat. "Diddyums, time to wake up, we are here now."  
Dudley awoke, emitting a huge yawn, and stretching, practically slapping Harry with his beefy arms. Once parked, the family exited the car and went through the automatic door to go inside.  
  
Immediately, Aunt Petunia shoved a list into Harry's hands and snorted, "Here, make yourself useful, get me everything that's on that list."  
"All right, but what are you going to do?"  
  
"Stupid boy, I have more than that to buy," she said with her hands on her hips. "Just don't embarrass me today. Nothing unusual, you hear?"  
"Yes, Aunt Petunia."  
  
"Good, now go on, I don't want to be here all day," she said shooing him away.  
  
As Harry walked, he read the list carefully, "One carton of Grade A eggs, whole milk, cheese, chicken, pork, chop meat, flour, bacon, pancake mix, and five packages of fudge. Fudge? No way, I'm not buying that, Dudley can get his own."  
  
Harry noticed his rebellious nature against the Dursley's got stronger each year since he went to Hogwarts. Probably because fighting pure evil, would toughen a person up a bit, evidently gave him more courage.  
  
"Hmm, I guess I'll start with the eggs, milk, and cheese," Harry said as he headed over to the ice cold diary section.  
  
"Grade A, Grade A, Grade A, where are you?" he said slowly, scanning his eyes over the numerous cartons of eggs.  
  
"Aha, here they are,"  
  
Picking up a carton, He then proceeded to grab the milk, and the cheese.  
  
"Drat, I should have gotten a shopping cart. I'm about to drop all this, so maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to go and get one now."  
  
With items in hand, he started to walk back to the front of the store. Halfway there, and not looking out where he was going, Harry practically tripped over a worker taking inventory of the provisions on the shelves, sending the food flying from Harry's hands. Using his quick reflexes, Harry managed to catch them all before they hit the ground. Odd, he didn't remember seeing the seventeen year old worker there before he approached this way.  
  
"Hey! Watch it! You can't go around a supermarket tripping over people like that," the teen said irritated.  
"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Harry apologized.  
  
"Well you better keep your eyes open then. Yeh know, if you broke that stuff, you'd have to pay for it."  
  
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry." Harry repeated while walking out of the aisle.  
Finally at the entrance of the store he put the food on a bench so that no one would think he was shop lifting, and he went outside in the pouring rain, to grabbed a shopping cart. He looked up at the sky for a moment, and thought he saw something strange, like a big dark mass inside one of the clouds. Realizing what he just saw, Harry turned his head to the sky again, but there was nothing there.  
  
"Hmm, probably just an airplane or something," Harry thought to himself as he pushed the cart inside. He thought nothing more of it for the rest of the day  
  
Taking the food off the bench, and placing it in the cart, Harry went to finish his shopping, and picked up everything that he needed to on the list except for the flour and the pancake mix. He scanned the signs above the aisles for them, until he found it.  
  
"Aisle five, flour and other cooking mixes, here we go," he observed triumphantly as he began to turn his cart down it, or at least he tried to. His cart wouldn't turn.  
  
"That's odd, maybe it's stuck in gum or something, Harry concluded while getting down on his knees to inspect the wheel. However, there was no gum to be found on any of them. He also looked to see if the bearings on the wheels were not working right, but everything looked absolutely normal. There was no reason as to why it shouldn't move.  
  
Getting up again, Harry raised his eyebrows puzzled. He grabbed the cart again to push it, but it still wouldn't budge.  
  
"This is very strange, why is it not moving?"  
He then thought maybe he should push it harder. He tried and grunted. It wouldn't move an inch. Then Harry tried pulling it back, but that didn't work either, so he put his back against it and pushed, but to no avail.  
  
"Okay, what on earth is wrong with this thing?"  
He planted his heels on the ground, and pulled it, lifting his toes in the air, with his back arched. This wasn't getting him anywhere. It was only making him tired and sweaty. No matter how hard he pushed and pulled, he couldn't get the cart to move. It was almost as if it was nailed to the floor.  
  
Getting frustrated, Harry grunted, "Alright you stupid thing, move!"  
He gave it a hard and violent push, causing him to fall on his rear, and then the cart zoomed down the aisle on full speed. Harry immediately jumped up, and pursued it, grabbing it just before it exited the aisle, pulling it into a stop.  
  
Harry gave a frightened look at it. Something definitely strange was going on. How could a shopping cart be rolling along fine, and then all of a sudden be rooted to the ground, and then to have it speed uncontrollably? He also thought back to earlier how the seventeen year old taking inventory, just seemed to pop up out of no where. He got an uneasy feeling.  
  
"Nothing else strange better happen. If I do any damage to this place, my Uncle's going to hit the roof," Harry thought.  
  
He warily put his hands on the cart and pulled it back into the aisle to get the flour and pancake mix. Now, the cart was acting normal again. Grabbing what he needed, he threw them in the shopping carriage and left aisle five in search for his aunt and uncle to see if they picked up all they needed.  
  
Looking down the aisles, he finally saw them on aisle thirteen and went to meet them.  
  
"You didn't forget anything did you?" was the first thing his aunt said.  
"No, I found everything."  
  
"Well you better have," she snapped, while she turned to her husband, "Oh Vernon, I forgot to get the salmon, would you come with me to the fish station?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"You boys stay here, we'll be right back," she said, as the two went off to get fish.  
  
Instantly, Dudley starting going through Harry's shopping cart, looking for any sweets he might have picked up.  
  
"Hey where's my fudge?"  
  
"Oh, sorry Dudley, I figured you would buy it yourself," Harry said in a fake tone.  
"No, cause it was on your list, bozo."  
  
"Well so it was. What do you know about that?" Harry commented, quite amused.  
"I don't find it funny. Go back and get me the fudge," Dudley commanded.  
  
"No, get it yourself. You're the one that wants it."  
Insulted, Dudley spat, "I said get me the fudge."  
"And I said, no," Harry replied.  
There was a Dudley tantrum brewing, Harry could see it in his cousin's eyes.  
  
"Get it now! Now! Now! I want it now! I want my fudge!"  
Harry was losing his patience, "Dudley, you have tons of fudge left in that pantry, I saw all of it when I stole your cookie," he confessed firmly.  
"Well I don't have enough!"  
  
Harry smacked himself on the side of his head, "Not enough? Dudley you ungrateful selfish brat! I don't even get any fudge, and you have tons already! What, when you think you are running out, do you call to aunty like, 'Oh mommy, I need some more fudge! I only have about a hundred left, and it's not enough to satisfy my fatty stomach! I need about three hundred more!' You're acting so childish!"  
  
It took a second for Harry to realize what he just said. He found himself to be pretty rebellious lately.  
Dudley went off the wall at Harry's outburst, sending him into a wild tantrum.  
  
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY! NO FREAK LIKE YOU CAN TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! GET ME MY FUDGE NOW, OR I'LL POUND YOU INTO A THOUSAND PIECES!"  
  
Harry lost it, "JUST TRY DUDLEY, JUST TRY. GO AHEAD MAKE A FOOL OF YOURSELF YOU DIRTY ROTTEN."  
  
All of a sudden there was a slight rumble, causing both boys to stop shouting. Then, all of a sudden starting at the beginning of the isle and working its way down, the items started flying off the shelves on both sides. Just like dominos, the items flew off, getting closer and closer to the boys. Pretty soon the wave would get to them and cause bottles upon bottles of olive oil and vinegar to come crashing down upon their heads. Hearing the loud crashing of the continuously falling provisions, people started gathering at the ends of the aisle to watch in shock. Dudley wasted no time on getting out of the way and out of the aisle. Harry however just stood there in horror, just thinking of the punishment he was going to get after wrecking all of this. He let his anger get the best of him, and now he would have to face the consequences.  
  
"Move, boy!" someone shouted.  
  
Harry did not hesitate to obey, and narrowly escaped the heavy bottles of oil from hitting him, as he ran and stood at the entry to the aisle.  
  
After the fiasco was over, the manager of the supermarket, and the same seventeen year old boy from before came running in, and their mouths dropped in awe at the mess inflicted. Not a single item was left on the shelves. Everything lied on the floor, broken, with all the contents on the ground.  
  
"Oops," Harry said so meekly, it was almost a whisper.  
  
Looking at the seventeen year old, the manager said, "William, call in the custodians to help clean this."  
  
As he did, the manager, whose name tag Harry noticed, read John Llewellyn, approached him, and asked, "Boy, are you responsible for this mess?"  
"Y-y-yes," Harry stuttered.  
  
"What in heavens name were you thinking?" John shouted.  
  
"It was an accident. I-I didn't mean to do anything."  
After calling the custodians via Walkie Talkie, William jumped in, "I told you before, if you broke anything, you'd have to pay for it."  
  
Harry hung his head low; he didn't need to hear it.  
  
Just then, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon ran into the aisle. Mrs. Dursley who searched for her son, found him standing just outside it, and she ran to him, pulling him close.  
  
"Harry what did you do?" she screamed  
  
Harry neither lifted his head, nor answered her. He was so embarrassed.  
Then, his uncle spoke to the manager, climbing over the rubble, "I'm awfully sorry sir, you see my nephew isn't mentally stable, and he has anger problems. His parents put him in our care just last year. He was with us a few moments ago until my wife, my son and I, turned our backs to look at the pasta selection. He must have wandered off when we weren't looking. It will never happen again."  
  
Harry shook his head. He couldn't believe what his uncle was saying. He picked up his head, and gave Uncle Vernon a menacing look that went unnoticed by everyone else.  
  
"Well it better not, or you can't come here anymore. You do need to pay for the damages though, mind you."  
  
Mr. Dursley shot Harry an infuriated look, causing Harry to droop his head again.  
  
"Of course, just name your price," his uncle said through clenched teeth.  
  
"Well I'll have to assess the damages of course. William?"  
  
"Yes sir, I'll get on it right away." William replied, immediately taking out his inventory booklet, and checking everything that should have been on the shelves.  
  
"I can give you a rough estimate though," said John.  
"If you don't mind making this quick, I have a meeting at work to go to," his uncle lied, clenching his fists.  
  
A bit taken aback that Mr. Dursley was acting a bit rude for someone whose nephew made a ruckus in the store, John replied firmly, "I can estimate five hundred pounds."  
  
"Five hundred pounds! You must be joking!" Uncle Vernon shouted irritably. It seemed as if his tolerance level had dropped immensely.  
  
"Surely one wouldn't joke at a time like this," John said stiffly.  
  
"Sir?"  
"Yes, William?"  
  
"I assessed the damage costs."  
  
"Well? Yes, William?"  
  
"The total comes to six hundred and forty-two pounds." William replied.  
Uncle Vernon's red, angry face, was replaced by a sheet of white, and he looked like he was about to faint.  
  
"Six-Six hundred?"  
  
"Six hundred and forty-two."  
  
Gulping, Vernon said, "Alright, can I write a check?"  
  
"If you wish so," replied John.  
Uncle Vernon, wrote the check, handed it over, hands trembling with anger.  
  
"Thank you. Now I hope this teaches you a lesson boy," John said looking at Harry, who still kept his head down. "I think you are through shopping for the day. Please go up front and pay for your groceries."  
  
As they turned around to leave the aisle, Mr. Durlsey whispered angrily to Harry, "Just wait until we get out of here. You're in so much trouble that you won't even believe."  
  
Glass crunching under his feet, Harry dreaded what was going to happen to him. "My life is officially over," he thought.  
  
As they approached the cashier, people all around were staring at them and whispering to each other.  
  
"Is that the kid?" asked a woman.  
  
"I believe so. I can tell you, I wouldn't want my son near a boy like that," her friend replied.  
  
Butchering, his self esteem even more, Harry tried tuning the voices of fellow shoppers out as his uncle paid for their groceries, whose face was now a dark shade of red again.  
  
"Go stand outside with your aunt," he ordered.  
  
"Yes sir," Harry obeyed, as Aunt Petunia shot him a terrified look while pulling Dudley closer to her.  
  
Walking out, Harry noticed the sunlight was back, and the rain and clouds had disappeared. He leaned his back against the side of the building with his arms crossed as his aunt and Dudley followed.  
  
Here was when he would receive his first lecture.  
"I knew we shouldn't have taken you with us! You always cause trouble, and we have to go and make up sorry excuses for you! You're an embarrassment, an absolute dread!"  
  
Harry held his tongue. He lost the initiative to rebel.  
"Time after time, you've made life miserable for us, causing us shame and burnt reputations! Now young man, what do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
Harry said nothing, and just stared at her.  
  
"Nothing? Nothing at all?"  
Still, he remained silent.  
  
"Fine, don't say anything. Just wait until your uncle comes out. You know he's really going to let you have it."  
  
They waited in silence the rest of the time until Vernon came out with the groceries, and the family walked to the car.  
  
"Get in the car!" he barked at Harry.  
  
Immediately obeying, he opened the door and got in, closing it behind him, followed by Dudley, Aunt Petunia.  
  
Harry could feel the car weighing down as his uncle loaded the groceries in the trunk. He felt as if Dudley was watching him, so he turned around to see. Dudley quickly turned away with a scared expression on his face.  
  
Smiling a half smile, Harry thought, "Well on the bright side, Dudley will be too scared to bother me."  
  
Then his uncle closed the trunk with a thump and got in the car. Harry immediately expected his uncle to start roaring away at him, but Vernon remained silent as he started the engine.  
  
Harry slouched down so he would seem less noticeable. It seemed to be working, because during the whole car ride home, there was nothing but silence. As he sat there, Harry recollected the day's astounding events.  
  
"First it was that worker William appearing from no where, after that, the shopping cart halted mysteriously, and then my strange action of causing food to violently plummet off the shelves. I don't understand it. I never do anything like that when I'm mad at Dudley. So what made me make that catastrophic mess? This is absolutely odd. How could all these things happen in a Muggle supermarket?" Harry thought to himself.  
  
He continued to ponder on this right up until their Buick pulled into the driveway of Number Four, and Harry still couldn't figure it out.  
  
"Help bring the food inside!" Uncle Vernon hollered, "And I'll settle with you later," Mr. Dursley snarled in a deep and dismal tone, causing Harry to shiver.  
After the trunk was opened, Harry started grabbing the large, and quite full brown paper bags, and carried them into the house one by one.  
  
His uncle had asked him to "help" bring the bags in, but Harry wound up bringing all of them inside, and unpacked them by himself. He decided to prolong his punishment from coming near him, by taking out each item, and putting them in their proper place in the kitchen, very slowly.  
  
That seemed to be a good idea, until his uncle started yelling at him for moving too slow, and that if he didn't speed himself up, he'd add even more to the trouble he was already in.  
  
Sulking, Harry moved faster, and soon had all of the food stored away, when his uncle came to check on him.  
  
"Done yet?" Vernon asked, sharply tapping his foot.  
"Yes sir."  
"Good. NOW SIT YOUR LAZY BUM DOWN, AND LISTEN TO ME!" his uncle bellowed, while pointing to the kitchen chair.  
  
"Floo Powder seems awfully tempting right now," Harry thought, as he sat down, waiting to be screamed at.  
"HARRY POTTER! DIDN'T I WARN YOU TO BEHAVE YOURSELF? WHY IS IT ALWAYS WHEN WE TAKE YOU ANYWHERE, YOU ALWAYS WRECK HAVOC?"  
  
"But.I didn't mean."  
"SILENCE, YOU SNOT NOSE ANKLEBITER! DON'T INTERRUPT ME! YOU'RE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY ALREADY AS IT IS. I LET YOUR PREVIOUS ERRORS SLIDE WITH THE UTMOST LIENIENT PUNISHMENTS, BUT NOW YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR! TOO FAR NOW, BECAUSE IT HAS COST ME A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY! WHEN YOUR LITTLE 'ACCIDENTS' START COSTING, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY UP TOO, BUT IN YOUR OWN WAY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"  
"Yes.I do."  
  
The one way argument went on for quite a while, with a ton of repetitive insults and comments from his uncle that seemed to last forever. Harry sat there the whole time in silence, just hoping it would be over soon. He did speak occasionally though, when his uncle asked him if he understood his threats.  
  
Finally, after the long and tiresome lecture, Harry received his punishment.  
"FINALLY, FOR THE MOMENT I'VE PERSONALLY BEEN WAITING FOR; TIME FOR ME TO TAKE DISCIPLINARY ACTION! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"  
"I am."  
  
"YOU WILL STAY LOCKED IN YOUR ROOM UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, ONLY TO BE LET OUT WHEN YOU NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM, AND TO EAT. OTHERWISE YOU WILL STAY LOCKED IN THERE. DO YOU HEAR ME?"  
"Yes, uncle."  
"YOUR RATIONS WILL BE JUST TWO SLICES OF BREAD AND WATER FOR YOUR THREE MEALS. THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, BUT IF I CAN THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE, BELIEVE ME, I'LL LET YOU KNOW!"  
"Okay."  
  
"By the way," his uncle stopped shouting, "Go outside and get the mail. We've been gone most of the day, so no one brought it in."  
"All right, Uncle."  
  
"Lay it down on the table. I'll get it later because right now, I need to make phone calls to work from upstairs."  
"Okay."  
  
"What are you waiting for then? GO!"  
  
Harry dashed to the front door and ran out it, as Mr. Dursley went upstairs.  
Now outside, Harry decided to walk to the mailbox at the end of their driveway. Opening the mailbox, he was now facing the house when he got an idea.  
  
There was no way that he was just going to settle for bread and water alone, so he would have to sneak out at night, and he couldn't do that by opening his bedroom door because of a previous dilemma. His uncle put three locks on it so that it could only be opened from the outside.  
  
His room was conveniently located just above the wooden awning on his house, and that was perfect because on the front porch was a bench adjacent to the awning. So, he could easily escape out his window if he wanted to, and that, he did.  
  
"Wonderful! I can easily get outside, so to get back inside to get my belongings, all I have to do is loosen the latch on the kitchen window, so that when my aunt and uncle lock up for the night, they think that they are securing it tight. However though, it's quite the opposite. Brilliant! Then when I escape, I will just wait around for the Knight Bus," Harry schemed.  
  
Just then he realized that he had no way to get back into his room to get this things once he got out. He couldn't possible jump up onto the awning, for it was too high. He could only jump down from it.  
  
Returning to the house, he walked in the kitchen and put the mail onto the table. Then, he approached the window and started playing with the latch. He had to work quickly because he had no idea when anyone would be coming downstairs. He fidgeted with the latch for about ten minutes, and managed to make it come loose. He tested it once, by locking it as normal, and then pushed up the latch, and there was success. The window still opened.  
  
"Excellent," Harry smiled, as he stole away to his room.  
  
Hearing Harry go in, Uncle Vernon, exited his own room, and locked his nephew's door tight, and went downstairs to get the mail.  
  
Seeing Harry, Hedwig hooted relieved, as if she was glad to see him alive.  
  
"You heard what happened in the kitchen between my uncle and I, didn't you?"  
"Hoot"  
  
"Yeah, thought so. Don't worry, he didn't hurt me, just abused my eardrums a little, but other than that, I'm feeling just fine."  
  
Again, she hooted a sigh of relief.  
  
Lying face up on his bed, Harry continued talking. "The bad thing though, is that I'm locked in here until further notice, and only able to eat bread and drink water. Can you believe that?"  
  
Hedwig looked appalled.  
  
"I know, right? It's pretty cruel. I don't know how I'm going to survive like this for the rest of the summer, so I've decided to catch the Knight.That is unless.wait! Yes, I have a better idea. Hedwig listen, I'm going to sneak downstairs, and use the phone in the kitchen, and contact the Weasley's. I know that Mr. Weasley knows how to use one. So I'll call him after my folks fall asleep. I saw the number when I was there last summer and I wrote it down in case of an emergency like this. Let me see if I can find it."  
  
Searching through the loose floor board underneath his bed, Harry shifted through all his magic books, and found a tiny slip of yellow paper sticking out from his Potions book like a bookmark.  
  
"Aha! Here it is," Harry whispered, grabbing it, and then putting the floorboard back. "Now all I need to do is wait until everyone's asleep and I'll sneak out the window, and then get into the kitchen."  
  
Then there was a knock on his door. Harry stuffed the piece of paper in his pants pocket, and answered, "Yes?"  
  
"Time to eat, get down here now!" his aunt squawked as she unlocked the three locks.  
"Coming, Aunt Petunia."  
  
Harry opened the door and went down to the kitchen, where his aunt served him his two slices of bread and water, which he ate quickly.  
After finishing, he went back to his room and was again locked in. It was only a matter of time until night would fall, and he could carry out his plan. To pass the time, he decided to again open up Tale of Two Cities, and read it.  
  
After reading for what seemed like forever, Harry glanced at his clock, which read 9:47. Obviously not late enough for his relatives to be sleeping, Harry needed to find more ways to occupy himself. Considering the fact there was nothing really fun in his room, he shrugged it off and continued reading. Just at a slower pace, so he wouldn't finish the book and then have nothing to do for the rest of the wait.  
  
More time fleeing away, Harry again looked at his clock, and it was now 11:30. His folks would be in bed pretty soon. The time was near, and all he had to do now, was listen for his uncle's massive snoring. To his great happiness, he heard it at around quarter of twelve. Now was his chance, and he was about to take it.  
  
He opened his window and climbed out it, slowly letting himself down until he could feel himself standing on the awning. His eyes adjusting to the darkness, he spotted the bench on the porch, and carefully, hopped onto it.  
  
Feet now on the ground, he walked around the side of the house, found the kitchen window with the loose latch, and opened it. Harry climbed in and stood in the dark room, his eyes panning around for the light switch. He instinctively knew it was on the other side of the room, and he started to walk towards it.  
  
"Easy as pie," Harry thought.  
  
He was almost upon the switch when all of a sudden.  
"CLANG!"  
  
He had carelessly bumped into a mop in an empty bucket, which Mrs. Dursley evidently forgot to put away.  
  
Shocked, Harry picked the mop and bucket up, and placed them back into position. He then listened in silence to see if he woke anyone up. He could hear his aunt through the ceiling above him say, "Vernon! Wake up! Did you year that?"  
  
"Huh? What? No, I didn't hear anything. You were probably just dreaming. Go back to bed."  
  
"No Vernon, I heard something crash downstairs. I think maybe someone has broken into our house!"  
  
"You're crazy. Go to sleep."  
  
"Could you please check dear? I'm really worried. Please, what if someone is."  
  
"All right, all right.I'll go. I still say you were dreaming."  
"I hope you're right," she said.  
  
"Oh no." Harry thought, "I got to hide!"  
  
Thinking quickly, he ran into Dudley's pantry and shut the door behind him. He looked around for a place to hide, and noticed a massive pile of lollipops on the ground.  
  
Seizing the opportunity he climbed into the pile and submerged himself in it, covering himself with tons and tons of the huge, swirly, carnival like lollipops, until he wasn't able to be seen.  
  
He listened in silence as he heard the enormous footsteps of his uncle come downstairs, and enter the kitchen.  
  
Mumbling to himself, and clearly half asleep, Vernon looked in and around everything. He looked through broom closets, in cabinets, underneath the table, even in the refrigerator for someone hiding.  
  
"I hope he goes back upstairs soon. My arm is falling asleep from laying on it," Harry thought, as he tried hard not to move.  
  
After a satisfactory assessment, Vernon decided to have himself a late night snack. Harry heard him grab a plate from the cabinet and put it on the table, then go into the refrigerator and pull out something to eat.  
  
"No, no, no. Go back to bed, please. My arm.I can't keep it still for much longer," Harry thought, as he felt the tingly sensation engulf his whole arm. Wincing, he knew he had to move his arm, so he shifted it ever so gently so that he wasn't laying on it.  
  
"SMACK!"  
  
While he was moving, he accidentally knocked one of the giant lollipops off the pile and onto the floor. "What was that?" his uncle questioned himself.  
  
"Drat!" Harry whispered, making himself completely still. Harry could hear his uncle's chair slide against the floor as he left the table and walked towards the pantry. The door opened, and his uncle turned on the light, and searched for the source of the noise. He scanned around the pantry and his eyes fell upon the one lone lollipop on the floor.  
  
"Hmm, must have fallen off the pile. That's my boy, always hungry," his uncle laughed while putting the lollipop back onto the pile.  
  
However, when he did this it caused more lollipops to fall off the mountainous stack, exposing a centimeter on the back of Harry's red pajama shirt. Harry squeezed his eyes shut as his heart raced, and he prayed that he would blend in with all the bright colors of those tasty treats. Thankfully though, his uncle failed to notice anything, and just tossed the lollipops back with the others . "Humph! I knew Petunia was only dreaming. Oh well, back to bed, I need to get up early tomorrow to fire more people and hire better ones." And with that, Vernon turned off the light in the pantry, and left it, heading back to his room to go to bed.  
  
Breathing a tremendous sigh of relief, Harry decided it was best to wait for a few minutes so that his uncle would fall back to sleep.  
  
After about a half hour, Harry thought it was now safe to get up from the heap of lollipops. Raising himself slowly, he let them slide almost noiselessly down to the wooden floor. Stepping over them, he silently opened the pantry door and closed it behind him. He turned the light switch on in the kitchen and headed for the phone. Harry then took out the tiny slip of paper with Ron's phone number on it, and dialed. It took a few rings before someone picked up.  
  
"Hello? Who is this? It's one in the morning, and how did you Muggles get this number from the phone I'm researching?" a voice said harshly. "I-I am sorry, Mr. Weasley. This is Harry Potter, and I'm in a bit of trouble with the Dursleys."  
  
"Oh, hello Harry! Sorry dear boy, what seems to be the matter?" Mr. Weasley greeted, his voice changing to a much pleasanter tone.  
  
"I don't have time to explain everything, but I got myself into a real fix with them. They've locked in me in my bedroom and won't let me out unless I need to use the bathroom, or if they are serving meals. While the whole family gets to eat lavish dinners, I am only to have two slices of bread and water. I don't think I can survive like this. I need your help," Harry said distressed.  
  
"How dreadful! I can't believe anyone could treat their nephew so cruelly! Of course I'll help you Harry, what is it you'd like me to do?"  
  
"Well, I hope I'm not asking too much, considering it's so late, but I was wondering if you could come and get me. Of course if it's too much trouble." "No, no trouble at all, especially since you told me what they were doing to you. When would you like me to come?"  
  
"Um, now would be the best time because if my relatives saw you, well, I don't really want to get into what would happen," Harry replied.  
  
"I understand, but it will take about a few hours to get there, considering we live so far away."  
  
"Would you be here before dawn?" Harry questioned.  
  
"Oh, absolutely! It doesn't take that long, but by the time we leave your home, we wont return to mine until around dawn. This phone call came at a good time Harry, I just received a new flying car from the Ministry, so you're in luck," Mr. Weasley said happily.  
  
"Thank you so much sir. You don't know how much easier you've made the rest of my summer!" Harry said excitedly.  
  
"I can already tell by the sound of your voice," Mr. Weasley chuckled. "Oh, before I forget, when you get here, park on the lawn and just wait. I know that you'll be there from looking out the window, so you don't have to signal me or anything, and make sure your car lights are off. We don't want any neighbors to see anything."  
  
"All right, I'll see you in a little while then!" "Yes, I'll be waiting. Good bye." "Good bye Harry." He hung up the receiver and slowly crept up the stairs to pick the lock on his bedroom door, or at least find a key, so that he could get his stuff ready to load in the Weasley's car. He entered the hallway, and looked for a possible place that the Dursleys would hide the keys to his locked bedroom. He quietly lifted the little oval carpet in front of his aunt and uncle's bedroom first, incase by any chance there was a key there. To his dismay there wasn't. Frowning, he put the carpet back in place and looked around some more. He looked behind picture frames and inside the lampshade of a lamp on one of the end tables. He also searched under the main carpet, and then felt around the panels of all the doors to see if any keys were placed on top of them. Still, he could find nothing in any of those places.  
  
"I have to get my door open. They keys have to be here someplace." However, no matter how much Harry sought out where they could be, he couldn't find keys anywhere. The only other sensible option was that they were in the Dursley's bedroom, but did he dare go inside?  
  
"I have to. Well, I mean, if I don't, I can't exactly open the door. You know though, I could just get Mr. Weasley to hover the car with me in it and then let me inside my window to get my stuff. No, that wouldn't work, the engine would make to much noise to have him hover outside the window, and he might hit the house because his lights are off. Oh well, I'm going in that room!" Harry planned. He reached out his hand and slowly and laid it on the brass knob turning it little by little, and gently pushed the door open, revealing nothing but darkness and Uncle Vernon's loud snoring.  
  
"A flashlight would definitely help right now." Harry thought. Moving quickly but silently, Harry went back into the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight, and then he returned back to his aunt and uncle's bedroom. Pointing it at the floor, he turned it on, and shone it around the room. Finding the dresser, Harry walked towards it and directed the light across its polished oak wood. The first place he decided to look was in his aunt's jewelry box that was nearest to the head of the bed. He opened it and dug through all of Petunia's rings, necklaces, and bracelets, but alas, there were no keys.  
  
Closing it, Harry moved on to the piggy bank right next to it. This would be kind of tricky, because if there was money in inside, it would clink loudly against the bottom. He carefully picked it up, and it felt very light. No luck, it was evidently empty.  
  
Then, he opened pen cases, and a few tiny ceramic boxes that you'd put trinkets in. Having no luck, he moved on, and spied his aunt's purse. Opening it, he rummaged around, but to make a long story short, the keys weren't there either. Just then, Uncle Vernon stopped snoring. Harry, frozen to the spot, looked in the mirror at his uncle lying in the bed. Vernon cleared his throat, turned over onto his side, and not even a few moments later, started snoring again.  
  
Tremendously relieved, Harry continued his search, and after what seemed like ages, he had come up empty handed. Frowning, he was about to walk to the other side of the room to keep looking, when he noticed something. As he turned to walk away from the dresser, the light from the flashlight accidentally shone on a little potted plant at the end of the dresser. When it did, Harry noticed something shiny protruding from the black soil.  
  
Eyes widening, Harry stuck his hand into the cool soil and pulled out the object. To his great joy, it was one of the three keys he'd been seeking. Kissing it, he put the key in his pocket, and reached his hand deeper into the soil, to find the other two.  
  
He felt nothing but dirt and water at first, but then his fingers grasped onto the two keys, which were all the way at the base of the pot. He pulled his hand out so quickly, that he got soil on the carpet, but of course he didn't care. Storing the rest in his now soily pocket, Harry quietly left the Dursleys bedroom, and shut the door. He then ran to his own, and stood in front of the locked door, and grabbed the three keys from his pocket.  
  
"Hmm, now which is which?" he wondered. Shrugging, he arbitrarily picked one to try on the top lock, but it was no good. So then, he tried the second. "Click."  
  
"Yes! One lock down, two to go." He tried the first key he used on the second lock. "Hmm, well now obviously this key goes to the third lock," he thought, while he put the other key in the hole. "Click."  
  
He took that lock off as well as he opened the third one, and finally he turned the doorknob and entered his room. He immediately packed his trunk with utmost speed, and silently dragged it from his room to place in the downstairs foyer. He returned moments later and gathered his school things, and also placed them in the foyer. Making one last trip back upstairs, he grabbed Hedwig's cage and went downstairs, and unlocked the front door. Tired, Harry then seated himself on the solid crème colored couch in the living room, and watched out the window for Mr. Weasley, who should be arriving shortly. However, sleep descended upon Harry's eyes that night, long before Arthur Weasley's car ever touched the green grass on Number Four.  
  
Sometime later, Harry could hear a voice in front of him. "Wake up Harry. It's time to leave now."  
  
"Hmm? Oh! Mr. Weasley, I'm so sorry. I must have dozed off."  
  
Chuckling, he replied, "It's quite all right my boy! I figured as much when you didn't come outside after fifteen minutes. I was worried that you might have gotten caught, but then I looked through your window here, and I saw you on the couch. Good thing you left your door open so that I could get in." "Yeah, good thing," Harry smiled.  
  
"So, are you all set?"  
  
"Um, yes, but there's just one more think I need to do. It will only take a few minutes," Harry yawned.  
  
"Of course," Mr. Weasley replied.  
  
Harry went back into the kitchen and found Dudley's school backpack underneath the table, in which he pulled out a piece of white lined paper from one of Dudley's notebooks. Quickly, Harry wrote a message.  
  
Dear Aunt and Uncle,  
  
I'm just writing to let you know that I have gone elsewhere to finish the rest of my summer, which I know makes all of us in this house extremely happy. I'm sure that when you find this, you're probably very surprised on how I actually managed to get out of my room with all those extra secure locks bolted on the door, but don't forget, I am a wizard of course. So, you'll have to save up all your harsh punishments for next year. I'm so sorry to disappoint you. Oh, and by the way, keep feeding Dudley. The fatter he gets the funnier he looks.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Harry.  
  
Finishing his note, Harry grabbed some tape, and ran upstairs and taped the paper to his door. He returned to the living room quickly, and began to load his things into Mr. Weasley's car. Harry plopped all of his belongings into the trunk, with the exception of Hedwig, who was put in the back seat. Then, both Harry and Mr. Weasley got into the new car, a gray Oldsmobile, which seemed to be in just the same condition as their Ford Anglia used to be.  
  
"Mr. Weasley, before I got into the car, I noticed a rather large dent on your roof."  
"Oh, that? Yes, I know. When it was in Muggle possession, some kids were playing some Muggle sport, and who ever was kicked this black and white checkered ball, kicked it too hard and slammed it onto the roof. That's fine though. The car is still in excellent shape for me to have enchanted it, and it drives and flies like new. Well, enough about the car, are you ready to get out of this dreadful place?" Mr. Weasley smirked.  
  
"More ready than ever," Harry replied, smiling.  
"All right then, let's go."  
  
And with that, the engine was started, and the gray Oldsmobile flew out of view into the starry and moonlit sky. 


End file.
